Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Even though I designed this quilt over the summer, I'm sharing it now because it makes me think of January Skies...all sorts of shades of grey, with some yellow sunshine peaking through...with the light sometimes fractured through ice crystals on the window panes. Through the grey there's lots of promise of a new year starting.

Many thanks to Fairfield World for providing me with their amazing batting and compensating me for this post to bring you all a bit of sunshine. All ideas, opinions, enthusiasm and fabric used in this post are 100% provided by me. This post contains affiliate links to support my creatively and allow me to bring you more projects.

Christmas is over and I'm ready for Spring to come...but we still have a few months until she shows her face...sigh...

If you feel the same way, this pattern might cheer you up and keep your hands busy while you're waiting on Mother Nature.

It would work beautifully with other colors schemes too. I used yellow and grey because this was a gift for my sister-in-law and her new husband, and we wanted to use their wedding colors.

This is also a great pattern for beginning sewist who want to make a really large quilt. It uses basic blocks and goes together quickly to make an over-sized queen quilt.

Queen-sized quilts are a bit unwieldy in a home machine, but the simple straight-line design could definitely be done on a home machine. However, I hired Charisma of Charisma's Corner to quilt this one.

Fabric Choices and Cutting

You'll need three to four shades of grey and 7 shades of your color. I divided them into 3 lighter shades and 3 darker shades with one more middle shade that I used with both the light and dark shades.

I chose my colors using a Kona Color Card before ordering my fabrics online. (I don't have a fabric shop with a big enough selection of solids to choose mine in the store.) If you decide to go with different colors, I strongly recommend using a color card and not online images to choose.

Purchase 1 yard of each color...all colors are Kona Cotton Solids by Robert Kaufman Fabrics:

I STRONGLY RECOMMEND keeping your squares labeled through the whole cutting and sorting process. Some of the shades are similar enough that you.

From each fabric, cut 12 - 10.5" Squares. (You will end up with one extra grey square and 9 extra yellow squares.)

Divide each color of squares into the following stacks. Your first stack should have 15 squares each assorted grey squares and assorted LIGHT yellow squares. Your center stack should have 20 squares each assorted LIGHT yellow squares and DARK yellow squares. And your third stack should have 20 square each assorted grey squares and assorted DARK yellow squares. Pair half of your grey squares with half of your LIGHT yellow squares. I strongly recommend keeping your fabrics labeled at this step.

In a somewhat random fashion match of different greys and yellows within each group. Kona cottons don't have a "right" or "wrong" side, but if you choose to make a quilt with printed fabrics, you'll want to make sure that right sides are together. Draw a diagonal line through your square and pin. (I like to use my Frixion pen that had ink that disappears when ironed, but you can use a regular ball-point pen at this step and it won't matter.)

Stitch 1/2 inch to EACH SIDE of the marked line. DO NOT sew on the line.

Cut down your center marked line. This will give you two Half-Square-Triangle Blocks (HSTs).

Press your HSTs. I like to press my seams open, although many quilters prefer pressing theirs to the sides. Keep your three types of blocks separate. (Grey with Light Yellows, Grey with Dark Yellows, and Light and Dark Yellows).

Now you're ready lay out your quilt. I chose to lay out my quilt, so that the greys make a chevron pattern, and the dark and light yellows make a less obvious chevron pattern, although you could arrange your blocks to make a more fractured pattern by turning some of the blocks different directions.

You may have an easier time with the layout if you think of them in rows like this and getting the chevron pattern is just a matter of rotating the blocks:

Sew your blocks together with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Finish and Quilt according to your personal preference. I made up some extra squares and used them for an accent block on the back of my quilt.

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